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Von der Leyen is abusing her position: EU diplomats call for the EC chief to be ‘reined’

Von der Leyen is abusing her position: EU diplomats call for the EC chief to be ‘reined’

Some EU leaders are unhappy about European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s unilateral decisions. Some leaders have called on new European Council President António Costa to help rein her in, Politico writes.

According to the publication, “annoyance is growing among senior EU diplomats, who are expected to discuss the European Commission chief’s recent unilateral power moves.”

Such steps by the head of the European Commission, including those related to Mercosur (Southern Common Market), will become one of the most important topics for discussion at the last summit of heads of state and government of the European Union in 2024. For the first time, such a meeting will be held under the presidency of Costa.

“Von der Leyen went further than any Commission president before in the interpretation of her mandate, most recently with the Mercosur decision,” one EU diplomat told Politico.

“The real conversation will be about von der Leyen, and how far she can go,” another EU diplomat said.
On Dec. 5, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on X that she had arrived in Latin America, noting that the “final line” of negotiations between the EU and Mercosur was already close. On Dec. 6, the EU and Mercosur countries signed a trade agreement, despite protests from European farmers. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his disagreement with the acceptance of the deal in its current form.

In 2019, the EU and Mercosur signed a trade agreement after 20 years of negotiations, but the deal was frozen because the increase in deforestation in the Amazon under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro contradicted the EU’s position. In early December 2023, the countries of the Common Market of South America agreed to continue negotiations on a free trade agreement with the EU after a summit in Rio de Janeiro. Mercosur is the largest trade and economic association in South America. Its founders are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

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